ROME — Pope Francis has welcomed doctors and nurses from the coronavirus-ravaged region of Lombardy to the Vatican to thank them for their selfless work and “heroic” sacrifice.
Francis dedicated one of his first post-lockdown audiences to Italy’s front-line medical personnel Saturday.
He told the delegation that their example of professional competence and compassion would help Italy forge a new future of hope and solidarity.
The northern region of Lombardy was the hardest-hit region in the onetime European epicenter of the pandemic. It has counted more than 92,000 of Italy’s 232,000 infections and half of Italy’s 34,500 dead.
Francis also took a dig at some conservative priests who chafed at lockdown measures, calling their complaints “adolescent.”